


Shared Pains

by Nowaki



Category: Hustle Cat
Genre: Any gender, Cuddles, Friendship, If it fits it ships, Minor Character Death, Movie Night, any relationship, chosen family, hurt comfort, i should be working on other stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:25:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7534426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nowaki/pseuds/Nowaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once a week, the employees of A Cat's Paw spend the night after their magic lesson. One evening, Graves leaves them to practice on their own. When he returns, he finds his family waiting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shared Pains

On Saturdays, the cafe closed early. Graves had taken it upon himself to to teach magic after closing. His training only lasted an hour but the employees still ended up sleeping over more often than not.

"I'm afraid you'll have to make do with steaming sites," Graves told them the first night they retired to his loft. "Cable doesn't suit me. Never anything on."

After dinner, everyone settled in before the tv. Graves didn't always I stick around but when he did, he sat cross-legged on the floor directly across from the glaring light of the television. Mason joined him whenever she got tired of standing.

Despite being a giant, Landry tried not to take up much room. He'd scoot clear over to one side of a sofa where he would half throw himself over the arm rest. Reese was the polar opposite and often took up as much space as possible. Finley liked to put her legs up onto his lap just to get a reaction. Avery switched things up every week to sit by someone else. Hayes turned out to be a cuddle monster. No one minded, except possibly Reese but he had complained when it took Hayes months to even sit near him and so when his chance finally arrived, he accepted the responsibility with dignity.

 

"Whose week is it?" Avery asked, plopping down on the couch with a giant bowl of popcorn.

"We watched Sergeant Frog last week," Landry pointed out. "Whose after Hayes?"

The answer came in the form of Mason picking up the remote control and navigating to Hulu.

"We're going to finish One Punch Man," she informed them queueing up the episode they'd left off on and taking Graves' normal seat. Most nights, they jumped around to different shows however Mason insisted on her nights to finish what they'd started.

"We could be superheroes, you know," Finley started for the one millionth time. Half of the room groaned. "What? You don't think I would make a great hero? I'll have you know that I have been taking my powers very seriously. I'm-"

"Finley, I would like to hear the intro." Mason said, quieting her mid-rant. She was one of the few that enjoyed watching the opening to whatever they watched. To make it fair to those who didn't, they would skip it on the next episode. Luckily on Mason days, they rarely switched things up.

Until they'd started hanging out every week, few had mentioned what shows they enjoyed. Finley had a thing for BL, which came as a surprise to absolutely no one. Reese liked romance but he hated admitting it. Avery caught them discussing their favorite "forbidden love" animes a couple of times. Those were what they commonly watched on Finley's nights. On Reese's they watched either what was popular or what he deemed to be "the classics" and spent most of the night arguing "slash ships" with Finley despite his clear approval of them.

Landry didn't really enjoy watching anime or even tv apparently but he liked being there. On his nights they let him turn on Star Wars or one of the Lord of the Rings movies. One of the best nights Avery felt was spent attempting to watch a Harry Potter marathon, a Landry night. Everyone ended up falling asleep and finishing the films during their day off.

Hayes usually wanted to watch light-hearted shows. He'd admitted to liking historical fiction but was rarely brave enough to watch them with his friends. He lent them DVDs from his collection but the one time that Finley insisted on watching his favorite show, a pirate show called Black Sails, on her night Hayes left to hide in the bathroom before every sex scene. There ended up being a quite a few. Graves strongly suggested that they not force him out of his comfort zone for the sake of inclusion, something they all agreed to easily.

Graves didn't want his own night but after Reese's week, there was a night dedicated to the vampire movies found in his collection. Avery reckoned they had enough to last a century or two. Graves claimed to hate them all for mocking his interests but he stuck around.

Mason made sure they finished shows and broadened their horizons with theater. Before long, everyone knew the words to the opening numbers to Hamilton and the Book of Mormon. They'd all begged to be spared a sob fest but she managed to coax them into watching movie adaptations of several tearjerkers.

Sometimes, the _remote czar_ fell asleep. They had an unspoken rule that if this were to happen, and it often did on Avery's nights, the others would turn on The Princess Bride and bed down for the night. Mason and Finley were champions at staying up late but even they got tired at some point. Mason never truly relaxed and usually ditched after everyone else had gone to sleep. Finley turned to her phone for entertainment and fell asleep long after everyone else. The jury was still out on whether she slept at all.

After making sure everything was turned off, Graves retired to his room. Reese and Landry were dead to the world when they went to sleep however Reese talked sometimes. Maybe "talk" was the wrong word. He just muttered nonsense and to everyone's dismay refused to engage in conversation. 

Hayes either fell asleep on someone's shoulder or changed into his cat form and cuddled up to them. He was apparently most comfortable that way. If you were fortunate enough to have cat!Hayes on your lap, you stayed put. It was a rule created one night when Mason looked down and found herself unable to push him away.

 

"I think his student is in love with him." Finley told everyone while skipping the credits.

"He admires Saitama's power. That's it." Reese argued. He probably shipped them.

"Yeah, and you just admire Graves' power." Finley teased. Reese blushed even though Graves wasn't even there. He'd abandoned them before the magic lesson without even making up an excuse. Normally, Finley would be buzzing with theories about him running off to reunite his old band or something equally outrageous but there were dark storm clouds on the horizon. They were on ice without skates and no one wanted to admit they were freezing.

"Hey now, let's just watch the show." Landry told them. He was the chosen one tonight with Hayes practically melting into one of his amazing back rubs. Avery was more than a little jealous. Of both of them.

"This show is pretty good." The blond added. "I like how the villains all have wacky themes like in comic books."

"Yeah, they're so over the top!" Landry agreed.

"As soon as we're done, we have to watch the bonuses!" Finley said, "there's one where they're at a hot springs."

"That's so fan-service-y." Reese complained.

"You love it." Mason and Finley told him at the same time.

Graves appeared during the final episode, putting a halt to them finishing the arc. The alien life form had yet to be destroyed but they didn't mind pausing.

He smelled like booze and cigarettes but they let him collapse onto the couch anyway. He looked like death, or at least more so than usual, but they accepted his silence.

"Would you like us to restart the episode?" Finley asked.

"No, continue. I ask only for companionship on this dark day."

They turned it back on but no one was really paying attention to the cartoon violence happening on the screen. Once it ended, they turned on the same movie they always ended up watching. It was a comfort movie, something Graves probably needed.

Somewhere around the time Wesley was kidnapped by pirates, Graves opened up.

"I buried my best friend today."

They all understood immediately. They'd all noticed the empty cat castle but they hadn't talked about it. It was an elephant in the room they'd all been trying to pretend wasn't there.

They mourned the passing of the Countess in soft voices. She'd been a part of the family and they all knew how much Graves loved her. After the movie, they tossed the cushions onto the floor and made a blanket fort while Graves brushed his teeth. Avery had built some pretty impressive forts in the past but Landry was next level. Everyone managed to fit without having to transform though Finley and Hayes did anyway. Graves absentmindedly stroked their fur as he drifted off to sleep.

There was no discussion on what to do or how they were all supposed to fit together however they made it work. They were family, even if none of them were related by blood. What they all shared was stronger than just friendship. Perhaps even stronger than family, for they'd all chosen each other.

They were a coven and if they couldn't kiss the wound better, at least they shared each other's pain. Avery knew without question that they would always have one another. Even if the cafe closed tomorrow, nothing would change the fact that they all belonged together.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for how sappy this turned out.


End file.
